


Madness

by AmidSaltAndSmut



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Damaged Souls, F/F, F/M, Multi, These people are dark and full of terrors, but I think a happy ending?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:54:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmidSaltAndSmut/pseuds/AmidSaltAndSmut
Summary: This is a fic I am writing about how I would have liked season seven and eight to be.All these characters and everything belongs to George R. R. Martin and Benioff and Weiss too I guess and HBO.Edited to add what this fic is about.Sansa will go to Dragonstone and Jon will plan the war. Sansa is good for politics and Jon is good for war plans. I wanted Littlefinger and Varys to meet again.All the situation is dire and people will love each other and also mistrust. Love and hurt and hate and anger and comfort. These characters are all broken and damaged in some way. Lost. Scarred. Exploring that and then all wars.
Relationships: Arya Stark & Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark & Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen & Missandei, Daenerys Targaryen/Jorah Mormont (one sided), Euron Greyjoy/Cersei Lannister, Grey Worm/Missandei, Jaime Lannister & Daenerys Targaryen, Jaime Lannister & Jon Snow, Jaime Lannister & Sansa Stark, Jaime Lannister & Tyrion Lannister, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth, Jon Snow & Arya Stark, Jon Snow & Davos Seaworth, Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow/Sansa Stark, Jorah Mormont & Daenerys Targaryen, Other Relationships, Petyr Baelish & Varys, Petyr Baelish/Sansa Stark (one sided), Sandor Clegane & Arya Stark, Sandor Clegane & Daenerys Targaryen, Sandor Clegane & Sansa Stark, Sansa Stark/Daenerys Targaryen, Theon Greyjoy & Sansa Stark, Tyrion Lannister & Varys, Tyrion Lannister/Daenerys Targaryen (one sided), Tyrion Lannister/Sansa Stark, Yara Greyjoy & Daenerys Targaryen
Comments: 24
Kudos: 67





	1. At the beginning of the end

Sansa 

Winterfell is almost home again. Almost.

Sansa walks down the halls like a ghost, chasing an old crumbling fortress. And she is restless and haunted.

Jon is here. Jon, her brother, king of the north. He takes his room from antiquity, when he was a bastard and was not allowed to sit with his stepmother and father and the truly born wolves of Winterfell.

They called him king. Yet he still sleeps in his bastard room, and Sansa, crossed by the North, gets a room where her parents slept. As a consolation, perhaps.

Jon made fun of her today.

You have to be smart, she told him.

Listening to you? he would retaliate.

Jon was no longer used to listening. Sansa knows that. And she told him, warned him. Cersei won't let it stand. Northern independence will devour her petty heart, the only thing she knows is to incline people to the will of the lion. What can oppose a lion? Nothing, Cersei thinks.

Well, lions are bigger. Stronger.

But they don't have the stamina like a wolf, Sansa thinks. Lions fight and kill each other. Wolves fight in packs.

The pack survives, the father said.

But now there are only two, and in a way disagreements. Because the White Wolf, as they call him, will not listen. He will do as he thinks best and all he thinks best is to fight the monstrous things he saw north of the Wall.

As the White Wolf prepares for “the only war that matters,” as he calls it, the green-eyed golden lioness claws and waits.

Jon won't even consider the enemy in the south. He tells Sansa that if she had seen what he had, she wouldn't have thought of anything else.

But if you saw what I have ...

She let the sentence die on her lips, unspoken. He knows what Cersei is. But the things he saw behind that ice wall haunted him far more than lioness claws could ever.

Jon has received two more letters.

First was the lioness, now from the lion. The lion who was Sansa’s husband all those years ago.

And another letter from a friend he had at the Nights Watch. Now he wants to go to Dragonstone to see Tyrion and the queen he served.

Jon comes to Sansa's room to tell her and he steps back and forth and she's home, but she's not. He’s so like father.

Am I like mother? She longs for him to stay so that she is not alone, but she is afraid because only alone she is safe.

“It’s a trap,” she tells him and feels despair because he won’t listen. She knows he won't listen. Jon doesn't listen anymore.

“You know Tyrion,” Jon says. "He is a good man. Do you think he would take me into a trap? "

She worries with her hands as her face tries to stay stoic.

"I do not know."

“I also received a letter from Sam Tarly. A man I trust as a brother. He says Dragonstone is sitting on a mountain of dragonglass. It's one of the only three things that will kill the dead. One is Valyrian steel, and that is not in abundance. The other is fire. And the last one is dragonglass. We need this dragonglass. Or we will fall. "

"If you die there, we will fall."

"We have ten thousand people. The night king has over a hundred thousand. Daenerys Targaryen has over a hundred thousand and if Tyrion tells the truth, she has three dragons. "

"And yet you think you'll be safe there."

"It could be a trap as you say. But I have to try. I'll try to convince her to fight next to us."

“How are we going to feed her people and her dragons? We barely have enough to feed ourselves. "

“She fed them somehow. What good will food do, and we are corpses marching towards Cersei? "

Her heart says please, Jon, you are all the family I have left now. You are all I have. You and the broken fortress that was our castle.

Her mouth says, “You are leaving your home. You are leaving your people. "

"I leave both in good hands.” 

"Whose?"

"Yours. Until I return, the North is yours. "

Sansa is happy to know he trust her, but that’s not enough.

“What do you know about this? About negotiations, debate? She wants you to bend your knee. Why should she help us if you are not?”

"Because if we die, she is going to die, too."

“Why will they trust you? It sounds like a lie. They will believe it is a trap. Did you do well? Explaining this before? You said you told your people to get together and they killed you.” Jon could argue, so she keeps talking."And what about us here? How do I know how to plan a war?”

"Then what are we going to do? Stay here and die? "

"I'll go. Tyrion stood up for me in front of their own family. I speak better than you, and you plan a war better than me."

He moves so fast to her that only the second has passed and he holds her.

"I can't risk you, Sansa. You're the last real wolf of Ned Stark. The last of my family."

Now he has told her what she is not told to him and she wants to start crying but can’t. She can't afford be prey on it now.

"If any of us have to go, it's best to be me." She says. "If you are right in what you say, we need this army. You risk me when you leave. You risk Winterfell and everything in it. You risk us all when you risk yourself. ”

“I risk myself if I risk you,” he says. And she cries at that time, and he holds her and feels safe at this point, but no one is sure. Not even the lioness in her lair in the Red Keep is safe now. A lion can’t be the most powerful thing when a dragon is in Westeros.


	2. Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon and Sansa agreed she will go to Dragonstone to meet Daenerys

Sansa 

These walls of stone are still warm in the Great Hall where they have argued and explained to the people of the North. They will not agree, they will never agree. 

So many walls were broken and burned in attacks. Now those rooms are cold. The glass garden is shattered. Ramsay loved to destroy. Now less food for the North in winter. The Great Hall remains warm. The room where she sleeps is warm.

Sansa gets caught at times. Held by the time here where she was violated and beaten. She has to exert energy to make herself remember the time before, when it was home. To remind herself it is now, and she has won. 

Jon does not wish for her to go to Dragonstone. All her fears for his safety, he thought silly, not enough to stop him from going to the island where there may be dragons. Now that it’s she who will go, the fears are real to him. 

She is touched in that place within her, in her soul, that she had held as separate and not to be touched anymore. Because he worries for her. He loves her and this breaks her in a way Ramsay’s torments could not. 

Despite her persuasion, Jon did not appoint a Small Council. There is one, it's not official. Sansa, Davos Seaworth, Lyanna Mormont and Brienne of Tarth. Brienne is more on Sansa’s council, but she is there. And Petyr Baelish. Jon hates Lord Baelish. None of them trust him.

Lord Baelish agrees that Sansa should go, but he would join her. Brienne says she will too. No one will hurt Sansa if Brienne can help it. She will stand between Sansa and harm.

Jon must stay to prepare for war. There is no time to argue with the queen who will probably call him a liar.

Jon spent the night with Sansa, holding her. He's been cold since he died and came back. His skin is cold, but it warms Sansa when he's there. He is one who loves her.

And so they go. On a boat to the island which may mean a trap, but they have to go. Baelish too warns her that it could have been a trap, but as Sansa is not a queen and can be held hostage, she will probably not be killed. Sansa thinks it might be worse. She was held almost her entire adult life as hostage.

Lord Baelish heard the stories of this Dragon Queen. And isn't that exactly his power? Stories. 

He tells her that the enemies of the Dragon Queen say she is terrible. She crucified hundreds of nobles in Meereen. Burned cities and bathed in the blood of her enemies. Her appetites are as voracious as the monsters she rides and she has lain with dogs. She is an arrogant child who has taken it upon herself to end slavery. She has dragons. And she is beautiful.

He tells her that those who love the Dragon Queen say she is the mother of them all. That she embodies compassion and kindness beyond measure. She is fierce and wise. She seeks to end slavery. She has dragons. And she is beautiful.

Three things in which there is agreement. She hates slavery, she has dragons and she is beautiful.

Sansa has learned a lesson about beautiful. Beautiful does not mean good. Very often the beautiful and evil are bedmates. This was a lesson in pain and blood that left scars on her deepest being.

And dragons do not write happiness for Sansa if the queen who commands them is evil.

As for ending slavery, it’s a good enough place to start. A point of negotiation. Wouldn’t that be slavery, should this queen demand they bend their knee? If she hates the first, could she not refrain from the second?

Jon

Jon is afraid for Sansa. His sister. Daughter of Ned Stark. She is lovely and broken, and he is broken too. They both learned not to believe. Not to trust. She wants him to listen to her, but all she thinks about is the danger she saw. The danger he saw would kill them all.

But she's right. If she's here, she won't know how to plan a battle. She has learned things, but she hasn’t seen that side of everything. The battle side. He knows how to plan a battle. 

And if he was going to talk to the dragon queen, what would he tell her? That an army of the dead would kill them all if she didn't help them. That the North is independent and that they still need her help. He can't tell her in a way that will convince her. Sansa spent a lot of time around those who speak words of persuasion.

But he is afraid, because if this dragon queen kills Sansa, it will be on Jon’s hands, because he let her go. He promised to protect her. There are so many he could not protect.

He slept in her room last night and held her. When he woke up and saw her red hair in the dim light, he thought for a moment that she was Ygritte.

He couldn’t save his love Ygritte and he couldn’t save his brother Rickon. If he fails and Sansa dies, the best he can hope for is to die fighting the dead because his life will not be life at all.


	3. The Red Wolf and the Dragon Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa meets Daenerys

Sansa

Dragonstone looms before their ship, and above it there are dragons. Sansa shudders when she sees them. A lion cannot stand against a dragon, but nor can a wolf. 

Davos Seaworth stands beside Sansa at one side, and Petyr Baelish stands at her other side. Brienne of Tarth stands in front of her like a shield. 

Davos joined them on the journey because he knows Dragonstone. And as he had said once, he knows men. It was he who spoke to Lady Lyanna and convinced her to join their fight with the Boltons. 

They step onto the rowboats, then onto the shore, and there is her husband. He smiles when he sees her and it is a real smile and the years fall away and she is young and frightened and he is her only protector. 

And then it is now again and Brienne steps once again before her. 

“The Lady of Winterfell,” Tyrion greets Sansa. 

She introduces him to Brienne, and to Davos.

Tyrion and Baelish greet each other.

“Welcome to Dragonstone,” says a beautiful woman who stands beside Tyrion, and for a moment Sansa wonders if this is the dragon queen. She does not have the silver hair or violet eyes the tales have told, but she has an abundance of beauty. She has brown skin and eyes like honey, and hair like a dark halo around her lovely face. 

“This is Missandei, she is the Queen’s most trusted advisor,” Tyrion says. 

“Our queen appreciates the efforts you have made on her behalf,” Missandei says. “If you will hand over your weapons.” 

Brienne does not wish to give her sword, but she does so at Sansa’s nod. 

They begin to walk and Sansa sees tall men with long black hair surrounding them as they do. 

Sansa fears because they are outnumbered, and Brienne now has no sword to defend her. But there are dragons here. There is not a thing a sword could do to a dragon and there are three. 

“The Lady of Winterfell,” Tyrion says to her. “It has a nice ring to it.” 

“So does Hand of the Queen,” she says. “Depending on the queen, I suppose.”

“Last time we spoke, was at Joffrey’s wedding. Miserable affair.” 

“It had its moments,” Sansa says with a small smile. “Apologies for leaving like that.” 

“Yes, it was a bit hard to explain why my wife fled moments after the king’s murder.” 

“We both survived.” 

“Many underestimated you. Most of them are dead now.” 

Sansa inclines her head. 

His sister is not dead. And she is Sansa’s worst enemy, the North’s worst enemy. Or she was, before Jon told tales of a dead army and the last Targaryen came to the shores of Westeros with her armies and dragons. 

Finally they come before the throne, a thing of dragonglass, and the queen who sits on it is a legend from the books of her childhood. 

The silver hair and violet eyes and unearthly beauty like the Targaryens in the stories, and even dragons. Had Sansa met her before her ordeals and all she learned of the vicious ways that can accompany beauty, such unearthly and ethereal look would make Sansa wish friendship. 

Now she knows that under a face so striking can lurk darkness and ill will. 

Missandei stands now beside her queen and recites titles. The Breaker of Chains is one of them, and Sansa is careful but optimistic. She doesn’t know what Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea means, and she is confused by Unburnt. Does this queen believe she cannot burn? Sansa remembers a story of a Targaryen who drank wildfire. Aerion Targaryen, who they called Brightflame. He thought the wildfire would make him a dragon but it only made him dead.

They all had nicknames, the Targaryens. This one is Stormborn. 

After the litany, Brienne steps forward and introduces Sansa of House Stark, the Lady of Winterfell. 

“Thank you for traveling so far, My Lady,” Daenerys says. “I hope the seas weren’t too rough.” 

“The winds were kind, Your Grace,” Sansa responds. 

“May I ask, why did you come, rather than your brother?” 

“My brother is preparing for war.” 

“Oh. Then may I assume the North has decided to join us in war against Cersei?” 

Sansa hesitates. She’s gone over this in her mind again and again. How to put into words the threat Jon has told her. 

“My brother is readying the North against an enemy far greater and more dangerous than Cersei,” Sansa tells her, and she can see the queen’s violet eyes grow cold. She thinks I mean her, Sansa realizes, and she hurries to explain herself. “My brother has told us that there are monsters north of the Wall.” 

Daenerys’ eyes widen and she looks at Tyrion, who is staring at Sansa. 

“Monsters north of the Wall,” Tyrion repeats. “Do you mean the wildlings?” 

“No. The wildlings are south of the Wall now. What’s left of them. Their warriors are at Eastwatch and their people are at the Gift. We will assemble at Winterfell. My brother Jon, as King in the North, is preparing. He said he will have our men and even our women training. The girls and boys, too, who are aged ten to sixteen. We need as many to fight as we can. That is why I’m here. You have a great army. You also have dragonglass.” 

“Dragonglass?” Daenerys demands. 

“Obsidian. Samwell Tarly is a friend of Jon’s, and he wrote to tell us you have a mountain of this glass. This glass is one of the only three things that will kill the dead.” 

“Kill...the dead,” Daenerys repeats. 

“I realize how this sounds,” Sansa says. “But my brother is not a liar.” She looks at Tyrion. “You’ve met him. You know he is not a man who tells lies. And he is no madman. He says he has seen this dead army with his own eyes. We are putting all our energy into this war. My brother has said that this is the only war that matters.” 

“I take it you intend to allow Cersei to stay on the Iron Throne,” Daenerys says. Her voice is cold. She is angry. 

Sansa cannot stop herself from sympathetic. “I can swear to you I’ve lost more at Cersei’s hands than you have,” Sansa tells her. “I have no wish to see her remain on the throne. But this enemy my brother speaks of is a greater threat. The Night King cares not of wolves and lions and dragons. He will kill us all the same. My brother is King in the North” Sansa speaks this slowly “and it’s his decision, whatever I may think of Cersei or her army.” 

“King in the North,” Daenerys repeats. “So you have come all this way to break faith with House Targaryen.” 

“With respect, Your Grace, I would argue that your father and brother broke faith with House Stark. Your father burned my uncle and grandfather alive, and your brother kidnapped my aunt and raped her.” 

“My father was an evil man,” Daenerys concedes. “My brother Rhaegar, I have confused stories. I have heard things of him, of good, of giving money to orphans and being kind. Yet I’ve heard too of his crime against your aunt. On behalf of House Targaryen, I apologize for all they’ve done. I ask to that you do not hold myself to task for the crimes committed by others.”

“Indeed I do not hold you to task for these crimes, or I would not be here. But as you are not responsible for the crimes they committed, I am not beholden to the vows my ancestors made. I know that you have fought slavery. We’ve heard your stories here. Is it not slavery to demand we bend the knee? And even if I did, I do not have authority to bend the knee for the whole of the North. Even my brother the king does not have that authority. The North chose him. They crowned him. They can un-crown him, and that they will if they feel betrayed. They will be betrayed if he gives the crown they gave him to another. The North must choose you. And they will never choose another ruler who is not of the North.”

Daenerys is quiet now, and Sansa wonders what she is thinking. 

“You have no cause to wish my sister remain on the throne,” Tyrion tells her, breaking the silence. 

“I don’t.” 

“Then as Lady of Winterfell, pledge your armies to Queen Daenerys’ cause. Once we have beaten my sister, we can help you to defeat these things Jon has seen.” 

“Jon says there is not time.” 

“It takes little time to pledge your armies to Daenerys.” 

“I mean no offense, but I’ve only met her today. I don’t know her.” She looks at Daenerys. “I can promise nothing until I speak to the North and they can see themselves that you will be any better than Cersei. I see you haven’t burned the Capitol, so you may be somewhat above Cersei. But what else do I know?”

“You know my sister is your enemy,” Tyrion says before the queen can say a word. “And our war against her has already begun.” 

“Has it?” Sansa asks. “It looks like none of you are at war.” 

“The Unsullied have gone to take Casterly Rock,” Tyrion says.

“Casterly Rock?” Sansa says. She is mystified. “Why?” 

“Casterly Rock has always been the true power,” Tyrion tells her. 

“Because of the gold, but that’s dried up. Because of your father, but he’s dead,” Baelish intervenes. “Casterly Rock may be a great fortress but unless you are intend to go there it has no value.” 

Tyrion looks confused. “The Tyrell armies and Dornish armies will lay siege to the Capitol,” he says but his voice is unsure.

“Who will guard Highgarden then?” Sansa demands. She was sad to hear of beautiful and kind Margaery and her valiant brother Loras who died by Cersei’s hand. She wishes no similar fate to befall Lady Olenna. 

Tyrion frowns at her. “You don’t think my sister will attack Highgarden.” 

“If she’s wise, she will,” Baelish says. “Highgarden has fed the realm for years. The Tyrells are wealthy and the crown is in debt.” 

Daenerys has stood, and she is very angry. 

“Is this true?” She demands of Tyrion. 

Tyrion must concede the truth and now Daenerys is storming down from her dragonglass perch and Sansa is surprised to see she is a very small and little person. 

Yet she speaks in some foreign tongue to the large imposing men around her, and they obey her at once. 

“Forgive my manners, my Lady,” she tells Sansa. “Please stay as my guest. Food will be brought to your chambers.” 

“Am I your prisoner?” Sansa demands. 

“Prisoner? You only just said you wish to mine glass here. Would you not stay? I must go and be certain Lady Olenna will be safe.”

And then she is gone.


	4. Behind the Faces, Turmoil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa is on Dragonstone, reunites with Theon, they get news

Sansa 

Sansa has been seeing the mining. Tyrion left with his queen, and Missandei told her that Daenerys will allow her men to mine the dragonglass. Any men or resources she needs will be provided, as men have stayed behind on this island to guard Missandei. 

“Do you know if she will join us to fight the dead?” Sansa asks Missandei. 

“I cannot say. You have said you don’t know her, and so cannot bend the knee to her or swear your men to her cause. I assume then, that you understand why she cannot swear her men to your cause. You speak tales of dead men. She knows this may be truth and so she has agreed to your mining the obsidian. But she knows too this could be a trap. She does not know you either.” 

“The Night King is her enemy as much as ours,” Sansa tells her. 

“Yes. If you are telling the truth. But you told Queen Daenerys that you have lost more at Cersei’s hands than she has. Cersei is as much your enemy as she is the queen’s and yet you cannot make any promise to her.”

Sansa knows this is truth and so she thanks Missandei for the help with the obsidian. She sees that she may have underestimated the mind behind the beauty of Missandei’s face.

Sansa breaks her fast with Baelish and Davos and Brienne in the Great Hall of Dragonstone where also Missandei and Varys are. 

Sansa finds this Dragonstone is warm inside like Winterfell. It sits upon something hot and smells of salt and smoke. It is grim, and where there would be merlons, there are gargoyles, and into the stone are carved dragons, all dragons everywhere. 

She feels unsettled here. To add to the men Daenerys has left, two of her dragons have stayed behind. Sansa knows Daenerys should only need one dragon to do what she will. 

“We are prisoners here,” she notes. 

“Are we? As Daenerys said, you’d have to stay here for the mining,” Davos says. “I have not experience in politics, but she agreed to let you mine the glass at no cost, and this after you’ve told her your kingdom is independent. Dragonglass may not have the value of gold or silver, but with such a mountain of it as she has here, she could sell it and buy supplies. Instead she has agreed to gift it to an independent kingdom. We can’t expect her to mine it for us and ship it over besides.” 

“This is true,” Sansa admits, but she is still unhappy to be here. She wants to go back to Winterfell where she may not be safe because she will never be safe again but Jon is there and he loves her and she loves him. 

“I wonder if Tyrion will be found out,” Baelish says to Varys. “It seems Daenerys trusts him but it’s clear he is on the side of his family.”

At this Varys stares, and Sansa is angry at Baelish. Missandei sits at this table as well and if she tells this to the queen there is no telling what she will do. 

“Tyrion supports our queen,” Varys says. “I don’t know why you would say otherwise.” 

“I say otherwise because Tyrion has stripped Lady Olenna of defenses and left her vulnerable to attack. If Daenerys loses the Reach, she cannot feed her men. Cersei will be able to pay the Iron Bank the large debt that is owed and then they will see her as the better investment.” 

Sansa can see Varys is fright at these words and she knows Tyrion loves his family for all his anger at them. 

She takes a look quick and furtive at Missandei who is eating her breakfast and saying nothing. Sansa knows she has heard. She will tell the queen and it may mean death for Tyrion. 

“I do not believe Tyrion is hoping to keep his family in power. He may underestimate them. We don’t know yet what has happened and should not rush to decide.” 

Baelish looks at her and he is still but he suspects she is protecting Tyrion. She may be. He protected her once. It’s as Jon said, he is a good man or better than the rest of his family.

“If it is true that the Lannister forces attacked Highgarden, what is it Daenerys will do?” Brienne asks suddenly. She is asking Missandei.

“Queen Daenerys,” Missandei says with emphasis, “will do what she deems right.” 

“In the past,” Brienne says and in her voice is purpose, “does she kill prisoners of war?” 

“It would depend much on whether she finds them before they attack Highgarden or after,” Missandei says. “If they have not yet come upon it, perhaps she will only take prisoners. If they have murdered her friend and ally, it’s harder to say.” 

Brienne shudders. Sansa wonders what has her so distraught. 

“Are you well?” Sansa asks her. 

“I must go outside for air,” Brienne says. She leaves the table. All the color has left her face and Sansa rushes after her. 

“What is it?” She asks.

Brienne shakes her head and cannot answer and Sansa has never seen her afraid before. But Sansa can see that Brienne is afraid so now Sansa is afraid. 

She stands with her for awhile and cannot comfort her because she doesn’t know what has her frightened. 

After a fashion, Brienne composes herself. 

Sansa goes to check on the men she has brought with her. They have begun the mining. She must own that Daenerys kept her word. Her men are mining with Sansa’s. She walks through the cave and sees strange pictures there. She is struck by it, realizing as she walks along what these pictures must mean. Who must have made them. The Children, or perhaps the First Men. She tells her men not to mine in those places. Perhaps if she shows them to the Dragon Queen it will persuade her. 

When she returns to the beach, Baelish is there talking to Varys and there is bad news. Euron Greyjoy had attacked Yara Greyjoy’s ships. 

Sansa cannot help but to fear for Theon. They were children together. He was almost a brother once and he helped her to escape Ramsay. They ran from their tormentor together in the snow. Was he dead? Or worse? In the hands of another tormentor? 

She had thought herself beyond fear once. 

It can’t be worse, she had told Theon. 

It can always be worse, he’d told her. 

She needs not be lost in dark imaginings for long. 

As she stands outside in the salty brimstone air the following afternoon she sees a Greyjoy ship approaching, and then it is men on a rowboat, and yes! He is on it! 

She rushes to the shore, almost weak with relief, and he stares at her for a moment before pulling her into his arms. 

“What are you doing here?” She asks breathless. 

“My uncle has taken my sister. I came to ask Queen Daenerys to help me get her back. Why are you here?” 

“There are dead men beyond the Wall. Living dead men.”

“The others. From Old Nan’s stories.” 

“Yes. They’re real. One of Jon’s friends from the Nights Watch has told him that there is dragonglass here and it’s true. Dragonglass will kill them. Dragonglass, fire, and Valyrian steel. We have but ten thousand to fight, and the Night King had over a hundred thousand. We hoped to persuade Daenerys to fight beside us.” 

Davos and Brienne are standing behind her with Baelish. 

“Seems everyone wants Queen Daenerys’s help,” Davos remarks.

“My sister is her ally,” Theon says firmly. “She has promised her help.” 

“She is not here,” Sansa says. “She has gone to Highgarden to garrison it against the Lannister army.” 

Sansa sees again the fear on Brienne’s face. 

Finally they get a raven. The raven is for Missandei but she tells them what has happened. 

The Lannister forces were going to attack Highgarden. Daenerys got there in time to stop the attack. She has taken many prisoners as advised by Lady Olenna who perhaps gave her right advice in the beginning.

They will be arriving in the next few days with Lady Olenna, stores from the Reach, and the prisoners. 

“Queen Daenerys is very grateful to you, Lady Sansa,” Missandei tells her. “Had you not said what you did, Lady Olenna and the Reach would be lost. Now the Reach is even more firmly on our queen’s side, and she has Jaime Lannister as a prisoner.”

“A prisoner,” Brienne bursts out. “Not dead?” 

“He’s Lord Tyrion’s brother,” Missandei says. “And Cersei’s as well. It would be foolish to kill him.” 

Sansa sees now. Brienne loves Jaime! She is trying to hide it but it’s all over her face and Sansa thinks for a moment she may weep. 

Brienne regains control of herself and is calm in a moment but Sansa will go to her when they are alone. How did this happen? She does not wish to pry. But she wishes to comfort.


	5. Meetings and Exchanges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bran comes home, Daenerys and Sansa reach a tentative understanding, Theon sets off to save Yara. I am thanks to everyone who is reading and who left me kudos.

Jon 

A raven arrives and assures Jon that Sansa lives still. Daenerys Targaryen has agreed to allowing the mining for dragonglass, but she has not yet agreed she will fight. 

She is at Highgarden and Theon is joined Sansa at Dragonstone. Jon feels the old twist of rage for Theon and all they did against his family. Must remind himself what he has done for Sansa.

Jon has planning. Is frustration because they have but ten thousand men and weary they are. Sansa was before more worried about Cersei than the dead. Sansa is angry because he does not listen but she does not listen either. 

She and he are broken in places that may not mend and he fears for her because she is all she has. A mantra he knows well. 

Jon has had the men dig trenches around Winterfell. Has had them built barriers of wood. Has practiced and practiced and practiced. Drills each day. Warning them that they are outnumbered and even if they were not, it is a dead army they fight who never grows tired, never knows hunger, is immune to fear and pain.

He sits with Royce and counts the stores as once he counted the stores at Castle Black. Not enough for more than a year. And the Winter may last a generation.

Jon thinks that all the North must come to Winterfell to protect from the cold and the dead so might well bring their food. 

But if Winterfell has not enough to feed its own, how could the other Houses? And should all those in the North come to Winterfell, and they survive the dead, they still will have war with Cersei. Unless the Dragon Queen defeats her. 

And if this queen has done no harm to Sansa or her party and had also agreed to yield them the glass even knowing of their independence, they may need not worry for Daenerys to attack them. Yet also what responsibility has this queen to feed them, as an independent kingdom? 

None.

So maybe they will die and be marching corpses, or maybe they will live through the scourge of dead by slim miracle and then only to starve. 

A bitter amusing thought is all he has to hold.

It is a hopeless situation on top of another hopeless situation and he is sure all is lost. 

Then he hears that a small group approached Winterfell. 

Two people, and he rushes forth to see. He cannot believe it. It is too good, too fine in a life with only loss and cold and misery but there is before him his lost little brother Bran. 

Bran has little expression as he looks and is not a smile but is not sad. It is nothing at all. 

“Hello, Jon,” Bran says and Jon rushed to hug him, to hold him tight. The boy he knew and loved and mourned is alive, and he cannot believe it. 

Bran tells him he must tell him a truth. A truth about himself. But Jon says this will wait, come in and get warm and eat something. 

He will send a raven to Sansa right away. 

Sansa

A raven has come to Dragonstone to tell that the Dragon Queen’s Unsullied army is staying on at Highgarden. Sansa too and her party are invited to join them there and Brienne is eager. She accepts Sansa’s comfort but neither have named what Sansa now knows, that Brienne loves Jaime. 

Daenerys has heard that Yara has been taken, and she and some of her men are coming to Dragonstone that they might speak to Theon about the plan to save her. 

When the silver haired queen returns, Sansa is struck by how large is the black dragon, even larger than the green and cream dragons that were frightening enough. 

She is struck too by how small is this queen. Very little and yet those around her are utterly obedient of all she orders them. 

She sees Sansa and smiles and such a beautiful smile, Sansa can only to smile back though she knows she must be careful.

“I owe you a great debt, Lady Sansa. Had you not come when you did and said what you said, Lady Olenna, her family and her wealth would be gone. I’d have lost a valuable ally. She has given me good counsel since and this I owe to you. We have decided it would be best to move our retinue to Highgarden. You are under no order of course, but you are invited and welcome.”

“We must mine the glass.” 

“I’ve every intention of continuing to do this. I said you may and I do not go back on my word. I will if you prefer have my men mine it then it will be shipped to you in Winterfell if you prefer.” 

“That’s very generous, Your Grace.” 

“Indeed not. You have done me a service and I am happy to return a service.” 

“You will not fight for the North.” 

“Understand, My Lady, you may speak true but the story sounds like a child’s tale or perhaps a ruse. You cannot promise your men to my cause. And you yourself have said Cersei is your enemy. How can I promise my men to yours? I would leave Lady Olenna’s people vulnerable. I’ve lost the Dornish alliance, as I am certain we will not retrieve Lady Ellaria. She killed Cersei’s daughter, there is no inducement that will convince her, I’m sure of it.” 

“What if you take the throne first? Then come North?” 

“Perhaps we will have more certainty then. If your tale of a dead army is a truth, I owe it to my people to stop them from storming my kingdoms. But as for now they are not yet my kingdoms. Not yet my people. I have yet to take the throne. Yara Greyjoy is a prisoner. Your uncle, Lord Edmure Tully, wishes to have his own home back. It is all war, all over.” 

“Uncle Edmure?” 

“He was a prisoner of Walder Frey as I understand it. He and his wife and son were kept as prisoner guests at Casterly Rock. He and his family traveled with my Unsullied to Highgarden. He was one of who advised I do not kill Jaime Lannister. My advisors rarely agree and they were unanimous in this.” 

“That must have been hard. Not to kill the man who killed your father.” 

The shadow crosses the queen’s face. “My father was an evil man. But of course as a child I was told lies about him. I thought it was the tales my enemies told that were lies. But no, it was my brother who lied to me.” 

Daenerys looks sad for a moment and Sansa reminds herself of this is a potential enemy. The sadness flees and Daenerys continues.

“Still of course is never easy to ever be at peace with the man who killed my father. You are right in that. It’s not as if Jaime Lannister hadn’t added to navy crimes since then.” 

“No. It isn’t,” Sansa concurs. “I will join you to Highgarden. I would see Lady Olenna. I spent many years by the side of Cersei Lannister. I was her prisoner. Tyrion Lannister is a good man. He never harmed me and was always kind to me. If he has pledged you his service, he is loyal to you. That I can promise, for what the promise of a stranger is worth. But it’s his family and family is complicated. I do not know you, but you’ve made no demands as to surrendering the independence of the North though I doubt it’s what you want.”

“It isn’t,” Daenerys says. “But Yara Greyjoy too has said she wishes the independence of the Iron Islands, and will support my claim to the throne in exchange for my helping her gain back her own throne.” 

“I cannot promise you men because the North makes its own promises. They chose their king. They will always loyal to their own. You must earn it if you wish they follow you. They have not warm feelings towards your family after the actions of your father and brother. Had you time, you might convince them. But I’ve no desire to see Cersei remain queen. I will advise you as best I can and then once you’ve taken the throne, you will be queen of Six Kingdoms. You will not want them ravaged by the dead.” 

“No. You are right at that.” 

They invite others to come and speak and Theon beseeches Daenerys to help him save his sister.

Daenerys promises her help at once, she will send men. She cannot attack Euron Greyjoy with her dragons because Yara is still on the ship and the risk is too great. Her Dothraki knew nothing of sailing when they first left the Bay Of Dragons but they have learned and are fierce fighter. 

Sansa adds she will ask Ser Davos to advise and if willing to help. He once was a smuggler and sails well. 

“All promises made,” Daenerys tells Theon, “and I will stand by mine, you and your sister have been good allies, but I do believe you should must also ask your men to join you.” 

“It’s as I’ve said, they will not. They despise me and I have made it worse. I am not fit to rule.”

“That is between you and your sister,” Daenerys says. “And I’ve gathered your sister is fit to rule. But Lady Olenna and Lord Tyrion tells that you on Pyke have a Kingsmoot. Those who follow Yara, chose her. You must make them join you. I will send men regardless but this is for you and the future of your islands. Your people must help you rescue your sister. She is their queen.” 

Theon agrees to this and thanks her. 

After he leaves Sansa is pondering. Daenerys was right. If it was only her own men to join Theon it may have weakened Yara’s authority. Her own men joined by Daenerys’ is far better. 

Ser Davos agrees to join them and they are off to rescue, and they will all meet again at Highgarden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved Theon how he spoke with his people to save Yara. This will happen exactly the same. I did not add in because the exact thing happened.


	6. Important News and Discussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa finds out Bran is alive, and she advises Daenerys

Sansa 

At Highgarden Sansa sees Lady Olenna, who tells her she is grateful to her. Daenerys has said of Sansa’s warning that saved them. Sansa is happy at this because it speaks of future. If Daenerys is one who tells of Sansa’s help when instead she might have claimed all gratitude for herself, as Cersei would have, it may mean a good arrangement if she wins the throne. 

Brienne asks to see the prisoners and Tyrion tells he will bring her. Sansa believes that Brienne might have murdered the dragon queen with her own hands if she had killed Jaime. 

Sansa is reminded of her days in Kings Landing. Lady Olenna and Petyr Baelish and Tyrion Lannister. But no Joffrey now, and that’s better than she had then. 

Daenerys seems much unlike Cersei, but Sansa cannot allow herself to believe yet. She sends a raven to Winterfell to say she is arrive safe at Highgarden, and she is full with worry Jon has yet not written back. 

She knows it’s busy and emergency to plan for the dead, but she knows too that he could spare a moment to write. If something has happened to harm him she will break. 

When the raven finally arrives, her heart sings. Bran is alive and back in Winterfell!

This is such good news and she wants to go home, see her brother she thought was lost forever. But must stay, mustn’t she?

She has secured the dragon glass and Daenerys might never join their fight. Why should she stay? Why should she wait to see her brother?

She finds the queen sitting with Lady Olenna and Tyrion. Lady Olenna says this is all a waste of time. The longer they sit cross-legged, the more time Cersei can conspire against them.

Tyrion claims that if Daenerys takes the city with the dragons, many will die, but Lady Olenna says it is nonsense, that Daenerys has already taken cities before and why should this be any different?

Daenerys is looking at Sansa. 

"What do you think?" She asks.

"I don't wish to presume to tell you what you ought to do.”

"It is not a presumption if I ask. It was your advice that saved my allies in the Reach. What is your advice now? "

"Will Cersei hand over the throne if you threaten Jaime?"

“I don’t know,” Daenerys says. "But if she does not, and I have threatened Jaime, I must follow through on threat. You, like my other allies, have advised against this execution of Jaime."

"If you win, what will you do with him?”

“I was thinking of sending him to the Wall, but there are concerns. His sister has to face trial what has been done by her hand, and I dare say there is little chance that she will be found innocent. She burned Sept of Baelor, killing innocent civilians who were not part of her games, as well as Mace, Loras and Margaery Tyrell. Cersei’s claim to the throne has no legitimacy, but by the very principle on which she sits upon it, her son was king. Margaery was then queen by that law. What Cersei did was regicide. And there are all the other deaths. I cannot imagine that such a crime has any punishment other than execution. But even if I offered her mercy and condemned her to the Silent Sisters, how can I be sure she won’t chart my death? "

“You can’t,” Sansa says. “She found a way to kill everyone who ever crossed her. She will kill you and likely Lady Olenna too.”

"Yes. And as such, I can't be sure Jaime won't kill me to get revenge for his sister."

“It won’t,” Tyrion says, and he pales. "He'll give you his word."

“His word? The word of the man who stabbed his king in the back. "

“The king who was ready to set the city on fire,” Tyrion said.

“Let’s take one step and then the next,” Daenerys says. “Should I take the city?” 

“Can you take it without killing thousands of innocent people? Because if you do, you are Cersei again but with dragons.”

“I believe I can. I need only to burn the fortifications, and send the Tyrell armies with my own. The city would fall in a day.” 

“The people fear your foreign armies. If you take Capitol with them, you prove them right,” Tyrion says. 

“How well do they obey you?” Sansa asks. “People are accustomed to sacking. The night of the Blackwater battle I was with Cersei. She said that the soldiers would rape us all.” 

“My men will not,” Daenerys says. Her violet eyes shine like two amethysts and she is certain. “I would not allow such.” 

“If you take the city and harm no civilian, then your men do not sack the city once you’ve won, this will go long in allaying their fears. If such is the case, take the city.” 

Daenerys nods her appreciation. Lady Olenna smiles at her because it’s this she suggested at the first. Tyrion looks at her sad and as if she betrayed him by her disagreement. 

She feels sorry for the hurting his feelings but he is wrong. Baelish said he thinks Tyrion is trying to weaken Daenerys for Cersei. Sansa does not think that truth but she knows that Tyrion is being weak. That it’s ruthless Daenerys must be if she wishes to take the throne.


End file.
